Neal Swanson - Page 20

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          section of the Internal Revenue Code provides a definition of the           
          term “return”.10  In Beard v. Commissioner, 82 T.C. 766 (1984),             
          affd. 793 F.2d 139 (6th Cir. 1986), this Court developed a widely           
          accepted interpretation of the term.  In that case, we stated               
          that in order to qualify as a return, a document must meet the              
          following requirements: (1) Purport to be a return; (2) be                  
          executed under penalty of perjury; (3) contain sufficient data to           
          allow calculation of tax; and (4) represent an honest and                   
          reasonable attempt to satisfy the requirements of the tax law.              
          Id. at 777; see also Cabirac v. Commissioner, 120 T.C. 163, 169             
          n.10 (2003).  This test combines the principles of two Supreme              
          Court cases:  Germantown Trust Co. v. Commissioner, 309 U.S. 304            
          (1940), and Zellerbach Paper Co. v. Helvering, 293 U.S. 172                 
          (1934).                                                                     
               In addition to the inconsistency between the purpose of the            
          filing requirement under the bankruptcy statute and the                     
          proposition that an SFR can constitute a return under that                  
          statute, section 6020 and the requirements set forth in Beard v.            
          Commissioner, supra, support the determination that SFRs do not             
          constitute returns within the meaning of 11 U.S.C. sec.                     
          523(a)(1)(B).                                                               


               10This Court has previously recognized that a return                   
          prepared under sec. 6020(b) might not be considered a return                
          within the meaning of other sections of the Internal Revenue                
          Code.  Spurlock v. Commissioner, 118 T.C. 155, 161 (2002).                  





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